China's Pang/Tong bid farewell at ISU Figure Skating Worlds

Performing passionately to Io Ci Saro by D. Foster, W. Afanasieff, China's veteran skaters Pang Qing and Tong Jian ended their career at the Figure Skating World Championships in Shanghai.

The two-time world championships winner and three-time world medallists took a bronze with their last dance, earning 140.18 points in free skating and collected 212.77 points in total on late Thursday. Canadian pair Meagan Duhamel and Eric Redford clinched the title with 221.52 points, while young Chinese duo Sui Wending and Han Cong took the silver in 214.12.

"I want to say thank you to my partner," said Tong, who paired up with Pang since 1993. "I can't make the comeback without her. I am happy to give the audiences two good performances here."

Pang has a little regret after the final. "We made a few mistakes," she said. But Tong said, "I think everything is perfect today."

The pair had retired after the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games but came out to compete on home ice in their 16th world championships.

"It's not my idea to come out of retirement," said Tong, 35, who is the oldest skater competing in the Worlds.

The Olympic silver medallists first competed at the worlds together in 1999 when several of their current Chinese teammates were just kids.

"We won our first world championships in 2006," he said. " And we just finished our last dance here. I hope Pang don't want to come back again. But we will always love figure skating."

"We have given up a lot to carry on our career," said Tong. " But we also have been given a lot from the ice."

"There are some important competitions in an athlete's career, and when we meet difficulties, we think about our previous experiences," Pang said.

The loving couple agreed that their relationship may be a reason for their persistence on figure skating. "I have never thought about it but I think it could be a reason," Tong laughed. "We can leave competition but we can't leave each other. The happiest thing for me is having her."

The couple are looking forward to their new life. "We want to be back to school after we retire, and improve our English," said Pang. "And we also want to open our figure skating club."

"A lot of people want to cooperate with us to open a skating club, but they only considered us as skaters, not business partners," Tong said. "We really want to set up a club."

They made comment on the performance of young pair Sui and Han. "We watched their free skating and they did very well," said Pang. "We are old enough to be their coaches but we almost beat them today. I think they still have space to improve." Endite